takes place in the same universe as "fire in the sky"


"god i hate that woman," andrew mutters as he walks out of the lecture hall. ponyboy walks next to him, already putting a cigarette between his lips. "she never likes to hear a difference of opinion."

ponyboy strikes a match against the pendant around his neck, lighting his cigarette in response. andrew watches as they walk down the hall of the building, the smaller of the two seemingly able to multi task. when he takes a drag and pulls out, he gives a half shrug instead of a verbal response which is exactly like him. in the short time they've known each other, ponyboy doesn't seem to waste much time with talking, and it makes andrew's mood a little more annoyed as they make their way to the other side of campus.

it's not annoyed enough though to keep him from sitting down with ponyboy in the public area, books tipping out for the assignment they have to do. "you going over the party eugene is hosting this weekend?"

a derisive snort leaves ponyboy in response, fingers going up to push his not quite completely red hair from his face, pulling the papers he had out of notes in front of him. "no. i know what eugene wants, and he ain't gonna get it from me. i got better things to do this weekend anyhow. got the notes for loughlin? i think i missed a couple of things."

andrew hands over his notebook, "i don't think there's too much you missed. that alpha of yours taking up your time again?"

there's no answer from ponyboy except a short laugh. it's a mystery to andrew and everyone else who's met ponyboy. they all know he has an alpha; he positively reeks of him just about everyday, and it makes andrew curious. it wasn't just that he reeked of him; the scent was aggressive in a way that gave him quite a few suspicions about the nature of the alpha.

still trapped between what he wanted to do, either going directly into medical or keeping to a more arts degree made andrew straddle the line. his instincts were good, he'd been told, and something about ponyboy's situation, however it was, stoked that. a good deal of omegas like that liked to brag or at least most people talked about their mates often enough. ponyboy was a shy guy all around - he never spoke of how long he had been mated (another interesting thing; he was only seventeen, andrew knew that and from the scant few things they talked about, he'd been mated for years), he never spoke about his mate, and as far as andrew knew, no one had seen them on campus.

it was an interesting bit of ponyboy that andrew knew he had no particular right to know, and yet the mystery tugged at him. he had no intentions of making a move; as a beta and one generally attracted to alpha women or beta men who were certainly not taken, this wasn't exactly his avenue.

he doesn't think about it much though as they get through the notes, a few other classmates joining in with them on and off as the afternoon wore on. andrew didn't have another class until the late evening, and as far as he knew, ponyboy didn't either.

they work quick enough, ponyboy able to pick out small details here and there that andrew misses, chain smoking his way through cigarettes as he does it. andrew walks him through some of the arduous lectures between them, even though it's so boring that he has a tough time not yawning himself.

it's almost two though, when eugene shows up, shoving andrew roughly in the shoulder when he comes behind him. "kowalsky, what are you doing here?" eugene is one of the worst alpha types andrew has ever encountered: stereotypically violent, full of himself, and someone who clearly still treats college like high school. it would be easier if they weren't friendly before this, and andrew grunts as eugene claps his back too. "i thought you'd be off campus already."

"i've got work to do," andrew says, clearly knowing the real reason why eugene was sniffing around. and it was sniffing around; eugene liked to think he could pull any omega from any alpha he liked, simply based on his good looks and his (questionable) charms. it might have worked a time or two on others in quick measure, but the instant he'd caught ponyboy's scent, it had been a problem. where the aggressive scent had told andrew to be cautious, it signaled a challenge to eugene, and so he'd become an annoying thorn to deal with every so often.

andrew could admit that ponyboy seemed pretty oblivious at times to other alphas, but not eugene. from the moment he'd locked on eyes on him, had sneered in his direction that shyness on ponyboy shifted into something like defensiveness, tensing up. that bit of edge that andrew had seen spoke of something more, and as eugene sneers over his shoulder, he sees it creep into his expression: annoyance mixing with exasperation and defensiveness.

this was about the third time eugene had "unexpectedly" dropped by when he and ponyboy were together. the first two times had been a little less public, and as eugene plucks up the cigarette that ponyboy had left on a stray coffee lid, he knows it's going to get worse. "must not be a lot of work," eugene is smirking, taking a drag from the cigarette. "you have all this time to smoke."

"some of us can do more than one thing at a time, eugene. you oughta try it when you ain't so busy stroking your own dick," ponyboy snaps, and that's probably the longest sentence he's ever uttered around eugene. it's much more aggressive too, than andrew would have bargained for ever coming out of his mouth. "you gonna leave? we're busy."

eugene isn't used to being told no - not with how big he is, how intimidating he is, and the lap of luxury he came from. being told no from an omega, especially one as small as ponyboy isn't a great mix. andrew can feel his own instincts telling him to try and get through this as eugene's smarmy look turns to a sharp glare, and before andrew can intervene, eugene gets that smile on his face that always means he's just thought of something a lot crueler than he should.

it's an echo of the few times they'd been almost friends, and it all crashing to a halt over displays like this.

ponyboy is stiff on the other side, hackles raised. eugene takes a drag on the cigarette, let's the silence stretch out, trying to intimidate. ponyboy doesn't back down, and eugene loosens. "you're funny, but fine," he takes out the cigarette, blowing the smoke in ponyboy's face, "you can have it back." deftly, he offers it back, and andrew is sure that ponyboy is going to slap it out of his hand when he reaches back out, sure he'd throw it away in front of eugene to make a point.

except both of them aren't anticipating eugene's next move. as soon as ponyboy's fingers are in reach, eugene yanks his hand, dragging him closer. his other hand, holding the cigarette brings down the burning end, nailing it right in the center of ponyboy's wrist.

andrew freezes in shock, and he can hear another classmate shout at eugene - but the dangerous scent coming off of him is cowing everyone else as he smirks at ponyboy who hasn't screamed or flinched. the cigarette is still burning, stuck the skin of his wrist, and ponyboy stares back at him, jaw set even as the smell of burning flesh starts to fill up his nostrils.

if it were him, he would have pulled away, flinched, anything. ponyboy is defiant, and the shock on eugene's face is clear when he keeps steady. "that all you got?"

and for good measure, he spits in eugene's face.

when he recounts it all, it's only mere minutes that everything happened, an alpha trying to put on a display like this, having underestimated an omega. andrew had no idea that this would all happen - he'd seen aggressive displays from eugene before, but never something like this.

the spit lands square on eugene's forehead, and as he turns livid, andrew knows he has got to do something, has to find a way to unfreeze because this was going to get so much worse-

eugene tenses as if to lunge, and andrew registers a wave of hostility that is not coming from either of them, but descends rapidly. then he's shoved to the side and eugene is yanked backwards. andrew turns, trying to see what's going on and is greeted by the sight of exactly who's hostile scent is radiating outward. he recognizes belatedly it's the same scent that tends to follow ponyboy: and by the look on his face, the baring of teeth that are much too sharp, he's a feral alpha.

the medical part of his brain registers that first. alpha's never had canines developed like that, nor were their scents so openly hostile that it felt almost dizzying in close proximity when they were this angry. there's a scant thought that maybe some form of poor socialization was involved, and that's all he can logically think. andrew feels like crawling under the table in utter terror, which makes how eugene's face descends into rapid panic that much more serious.

the alpa has his fist clutching eugene's dark hair in a killer grip, teeth bared. he doesn't talk with his words - just brings eugene's head down on the metal table once, twice, and then a third time. each one is loud, sickeningly hard crunch meant to teach him a lesson.

there's blood dripping down when he let's go, steps over eugene. andrew shrinks away, cowed by the display. the alpha is shorter than him by a scant few inches, is much leaner than eugene, and he knows that anything he'd say about now would make the situation worse. he's almost a complete opposite of eugene: where eugene had a fake sort of confidence to him, in the few strides this alpha makes it's teeming with it, even if he's just in jeans and a black shirt that's seen better days.

"dal," ponyboy's single word doesn't sound pained, and andrew doesn't see what they do. he stays where he is until both of them are gone, and despite the fear in him, he wonders what, exactly, happened to make an alpha like that and how he'd ever gotten tangled up with his quiet classmate.

he reserves no sympathy for eugene.